Sunday, September 26, 2010

Gunther Gebel-Williams.


Gunther Gebel-Williams.19, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

From Henry Penndorf

This afternoon, I was reading an archived article online from the New Yorker Magazine about Gunther Gebel-Williams. The article was titled "The Young Lions" and was dated January 9, 1984. I found the article very interesting, just at the mention of Gunther and lions.

I do seem to remember seeing Gunther with two lions, riding on the backs of two horses, while Gunther rode the horses Roman post style aroun! d the hippodrome track at the Garden, but I can't recall what year. I actually had a picture (attached) of this in my files.

The author of the article, Natacha Stewart, went to see Gunther Gebel-Williams at the Meadowlands Arena, where he was in the middle of one of his twice-a-day practice sessions. The following is an excerpt from that article...

"This season his (Gunther) "something new" is lions. In the past he has said that lions are not his style. Now, however, he has aquired six lion cubs, four male and two female. He is training them and ! hopes to have them in the act in two years."

Do you, or any of your blogs loyal readers have any additional information on Gunther and his lions, or the reason that this lion act never became a part of Gunther's animal presentations? Do you think that Gunther may have been planning on adding the lions to his tigers and presenting a mixed act?

Phylis and I would like to wish your lovely wife Barbara, a very Happy Birthday, and many more, all in good health.

I hope you enjoy these pictures.

Stay well,

Henry

Posted by Buckles at 9/26/2010 06:10:00 AM

13 comments:

Wade G. Burck said...

Henry,
I believe it was always intended that the lions would be used for a riding act on horses. Due to time constraints it was never completed further then initial training and usage as we see here in this photo. Three of the lions were given to Daniel Suskow in 1984, to use in training a riding act(as seen in the video "Big Cat's of the Big Top"." One of the lions was killed in an unfortunate accident in West Palm Beach. Daniel had a brutal schedule of training in 1984-1985, three liberty acts, camels and horses, zebra and hackney ponies, Appaloosa horses, 3 baby Bison and Geronimo. Contrary to popular myth/opinion you did not have all the time in the world to train on Ringling, you did not have all the help you wanted for setting up and tearing down, etc. etc. In fact I got 1 hour on Thurs. on the rodeo route, and 1 hour on Tues, and 1 hour on Thurs. on the longer dates (I still have my practice schedule signed by the great Charly Baumann) Daniel practiced liberty every morning starting at about 5AM and finished with the riding lion act at 9AM, and the arena was left up for me to practice. Axel also got either one or two day's to practice. Brutal, brutal schedule, and a true testament to GGW's skill's in training all the act's that he did over the years. The lion riding act was never completed, and the remaining lions, Caesar and Bongo were sold to Bowmanville Zoo and Mike Hackenberger and appeared in the movie Ghost in the Darkness. Bongo became quite a well known lion in Canada.
Wade Burck

P.S Hackenberger, help a feeble old man out here. Am I forgetting a lion named Mitch, or is that another lion.

26 September, 2010 07:07
Eric said...

In 1981 when the Red Unit was in San Diego, there were some small lion cubs in cages out in the Sports Arena backyard. Someone said that Gunther had just acquired them from a Chipperfield unit that was presenting a lion act at Sea World San Diego. Two years later, when the Red Unit played San Diego, only the uncaged male lion was appearing during the opening. (When Gunther and the lion were circling the arena, we played Sousa’s El Capitan March.) The printed program showed both an uncaged lion and lioness. When I asked Keith Greene what had happened to the lioness, he told me that, at an earlier performance, someone had waved a banner in front of her face while she was on the horse, and after that she refused to perform this trick. The next time the Red Unit played San Diego, the male lion was gone, too. When I asked Keith what had happened to him, he told me that, at a performance later in the 113th Edition’s tour, the lion had unexpectedly jumped down off of the horse and bounded up into the stands, dragging Gunther along with him. Fortunately, the audience all thought it was part of the show and applauded. Later, after the lion was safely back in his cage, Gunther nixed any future presentations of this feature.

26 September, 2010 12:06
Chic Silber said...

For several years there was some

serious concern that if Prince

was ever to decide to visit some

lady in row 27 of section G there

was little chance that Gunther

could do much to change his mind

As the show was self insured the

decisions were all "in house"

26 September, 2010 14:39
Wade G. Burck said...

Eric and Chic,
GGW, Superman, or God Almighty is not going to stop an adult feline should they decide to go walkabout. Back in the day, back when we all thought we were invincible and feared nothing but kryptonite, I had a tiger named Targa that I carried around my neck, out of the arena and around the track. I could have carried her in the arena, but like all young wanna be's at the time, I figured by taking her out, if it didn't make me better then GGW, at least by God, it made me as good. Alas, the folly of youth. LOL For two year's I assured nervous producer's that I had the strength of ten, until one day between show's when I had her out side for "play time." I used to throw a baseball which she would run and retrieve. I used a 30 foot chain which, while being light enough for her to run in comfortably, I wrongly assumed was also strong enough to stop her. My son Adam threw the ball, Targa took of like a rocket, and when she hit the end of the 30 feet the chain snapped like kite string a foot from her collar, and she sprinted off, completely ignoring the ball, with me in hot pursuit across the football field we were on. The only reason I was able to catch her a hundred yards later, was when she looked over her shoulder and saw me running, and stopped to see if I was retrieving the ball myself this time, which gave me the opportunity to grab the broken chain hanging off her collar and secure her. She never went out of the arena again after that one time, and I think it is foolish to think that you can stop one, just because you are telling it to stop. Too dangerous and unpredictable to chance a spectator or audience member being injured and not worth the risk, in return for the appreciation of doing the actual behavior.
Wade Burck

26 September, 2010 21:43
Chic Silber said...

I rest my case your honor

It was extremely fortunate that

Prince never decided to leave his

post during these track turns for

all those years

26 September, 2010 22:52
clownron said...

Great thread...

26 September, 2010 23:57
Anonymous said...

Mitch was a lion in Roy Well's lion/tiger act in 1978 for Hawthorn. The four lions, Bongo, Mitch, Ceasar, and (??) were left overs from Junior Ruffin's act, and the four tigers, Prince, Princess, Ural and (??) were left overs in the Hawthorn barn. Roy mixed them during the winter of 77-78. The act worked only the 1978 season.

27 September, 2010 07:59
Wade G. Burck said...

Anonymous,
Was the forth tiger Bengali? I was aware of the "Mitch" you mention, just recalled the name for another lion. I know the lions well. After the act was disbanded the lions were sold to Dave Hoover. He came to the compound in Illinois and I showed him what they did. He had a gun strapped on, and was quite surprised when I told him I didn't own one. When he finally went in with them, the first thing he did was fire his pistol. Scared the old lions half to death, and I thought to myself, "Geez, is this the profession I have chosen?" John Cuneo and I went to see the Beatty show the next year to see how the lions were doing. There were the 3 lions and two tigers in the act. Bongo was the only animal that worked that day, the rest stayed on their seats. Made me wonder what the act did, before Bongo joined it.
Wade Burck

27 September, 2010 13:23
Anonymous said...

The fourth tiger was not Bengali. Maybe Sultan. What was the fourth lion's name?

27 September, 2010 17:48
Wade G. Burck said...

I don't think it was Sultan. Possibly Princess. Was the other lion Louie? Hey, John Milton get Roy Wells on the phone, would you. We need some help here.
Wade Burck

28 September, 2010 08:22
Anonymous said...

Already mentioned Princess in the tigers. Maybe the fourth lion was Sultan. But it wasn't Louie.

28 September, 2010 12:59
Wade G. Burck said...

Sorry, I meant Sheba. Hawthorn had a tiger named Sultan, but I don't recall a lion with that name.
Wade Burck

28 September, 2010 22:54
Anonymous said...

No, Sheba isn't right either. Where's Roy to straighten this out?

29 September, 2010 08:57

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